Cruisin' in My Son's Caddy
Feb 25, 2005

Late yesterday, I needed to take a pickup to Valentine to get a bed liner sprayed
in it today. My son is sixteen and a sophomore in Cody High School, so it befell
him to follow me to the "big city" and bring me home after leaving the pickup.
We did some errands, both washed our vehicles in an automatic car-wash, ate
at McDonald's, and then I kicked back for a luxurious ride in my son's car.

He had a chance to get this 1973 Cadillac Coupe DeVille about a year ago, and
it is his pride and joy. It was a one-owner car with 89,000 miles on it when
he bought it, and it now has 92,000. He was horse-trader enough to get it bought
for $1125. Being a typical red-blooded American boy, he had to personalize it
with gizmos and doo-dads. He purchased an XM radio system, and has the trunk
half-full of speakers. Altogether, there are nine (count them, nine) speakers.
Being kind and considerate of his pappy, we did get to listen to "Hank's Place" on
the radio on the way home. It was fun trying to impress him that I knew most
of the artists as they sang their songs. He could see who was singing, and I
couldn't.

There was a short in the front two speakers, but if the heater was on, the speakers
worked. As the evening was beautiful, about 40 degrees and a nearly full moon,
we traveled some with the windows rolled down. It was a bit chilly, but by golly,
the speakers worked. About half-way home, another short developed, and a light
came on under the dash so we could see our feet among a multitude of wires. Another
discovery of the evening happened in the automatic car wash. Being originally
a California car, it was not used to an abundance of water and did leak a bit
between the windows. Anyway, it was a fun ride home, and I am proud that he likes
his car and takes good care of it.